Morning journal and courier., 1887-07-07
NOTES FROM OREGON.

BeautifuI and Grand NIt.Shasta, l 1. .440
 Feet HIsh-Dimcult Stage Travelling
 A Glance at Portland, OregOn-The
 Wonderful and Marvellous Growth
 Of Towns and Cities from San Diego
 On the South to Tacoma on the North
 A New Havener's JourneyIngs.
 TACOMA, PUGET SOUND, June B, 1887.
 When you come this way take the rail from San Francisco for Portland, Oregon; that is to say, if you wish to behold Mt. Shasta in all it's glory, sight of which is worth all the discomfort on the route, by which mean the present stage ride of 20
 miles over the mountains, which verify are
 the hardest have ever yet experienced. But l tunnelling is going on, and before you come l the six horse teams and bruised heads will | be matter of the past Mt. Shasta is 14,- l 440 feet up, one-half covered with snow, and | is beautiful in shape; and with morning sun in full blaze upon it is sight to rouse 1 the emotions. It can be watched in many 8 1 position for fifty miles, and is a sight of | beauty and grandeur never to be effaced | from the mind, unless it be echpsed by the | mount which for reputation is so high that its summit cannot be reached by human feet, | viz, the one in that far of northern cline | where night is turned into day-ffteen hun l dred miles further north from here-where | the glaciers Of Glacier Bay are ever in sight, 1 where one can read by the light of the sun at midnight, and whereof suck wonderful tales are told as to make one wild with an. l ticipation. Such. are the hopes of | many who to-day expect to lstart | from Tacoma on the Olympia steamer for Alaska. Many tourists have started from San Francisco by steamer, whom we are to | join at Seattle, Port Townsend or Victoria, in the British possessions, TOT whom we have had such sympathy on account of the misnamed Pacific ocean. Although our stag ing required a strong hold, and we oft bumped our heads against the top of the ve- hicle, we think it preferable to sea voyage. Tacoma now contains ten thousand. Its stores are in good comparison with those at the East. Puget Sound lies at it's feet. The streets rise one above another, wide and beautifully laid out at right angles. There are blocks of stores, and Iscount thirteen churches on the list There are public buildings, large school buildings and everything that belongs to an old city of the same population. And just think that the place. It is almost incomprehensible, and would be quite so had I not for two years past witnessed so many places, partic ularly in southern California, rise like magic.
 But so it has been and is now. The mag mates of the rail make a city by locating:
 
 land; building railroads with attractive hotel resorts; drawing custom over the roads, thereby obtaining fat profits upon the lands previously purchased at nom- inal rates and sold at city prices. My yer dict is they are doing good by opening to the cumulate millions, and from observation would there were more than less. How could we have such facilities were it not for ac- cumulated, concentrated capital? I have travelled over western mountains in days when no rails were laid. I know the differ ence.
 But of Alaska You may know more of it when do, when have seen the midnight sun, when have seen it's glaciers. Of Portland Oregon, I will make 8 brief mention. Of the Columbia river you have read; also of the Dallas and cascades; so will not repeat our trip upon it. The city. has grown; it is now growing. Miles of bridges in nearly all directions bound it. Portland is pretty place and has the appearance of busy city; of wholesale stores it has not few, and fair hotels; the drives are pleasant; it has a park that in time will be like unto your park, minus soldiers monument; it has steamers plying up, down and over the river, which ever way you wish to sail.
 The climate appears similar to New Eng lands, and all over this region the vegeta- tion is similar to that of California. The fa- miliar sight of green grapes as in California dIlu In0 IOlldS6 are on uFSC entering the country, but nothing of the brown hills of that State can here be seen.
 Wonder of wonders, that from San Diego on the south to Tacoma on the north such country has been and is being peopled with such rapidity as has this part of the western world. Had my eyes not seen it my senses would not believe it; but what one sees one must believe.
 Having been in country for nearly two years without much rain, it seems good to- day to enjoy day of the humid atmosphere, and to know that irrigation is not to be everywhere depended upon for cultivation. am told the mercury seldom goes above S50 or below 15' at this location. An ''echo'' from fifteen hundred miles further on may not be uninteresting even if repeated as often as echoes are on the Columbia river-even to seven times; the sounds will differ and pay for watching. M.